2015 ICF World Championships Slalom
 
1
2
3
K1M
CZ J. PRSKAVEC
PL M. POLACZYK
US M. SMOLEN
K1W
CZ K. KUDEJOVA
DE R. FUNK
DE M. PFEIFER
C1M
GB D. FLORENCE
SI B. SAVSEK
GB R. WESTLEY
C1W
AU J. FOX
CZ K. HOSKOVA
ES N. VILARRUBLA
C2
DE ANTON/BENZIEN
FR PICCO/BISO
FR KLAUSS/PECHE

Canoe Slalom

2018 World Cup series in Americas - Pan Am Canoe Slalom review

canoe kayak slalom pan am games 2015 toronto canada results review sportscene olympic qualifier

Sportscene | John Gregory | @gregiej – Only an idea, but why not? It’s not such a ridiculous idea. We have had the Deep Creek Senior Worlds, Foz Junior/U23 Worlds and Minden Pan Am ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics. A World Cup last took place in Canada here in 1997 and in US in Wausau back in 2001. Is there a correlation between the fact there hasn’t been a World Cup in the Americas since and no C2 in a World Cup final for as far back as anyone can remember? Just thinking out loud! 

This debut of canoe slalom in the Pan Am games provided a thrilling spectacle stimulating some great Canadian media coverage. As described in my preview article this is a small event by international standards with only 10 federations from North & South America. The Canadian Team missed out on topping the medal table at home. Medals were split across four nations, with the USA top with gold in C1M, K1M and C2. Brazil should really feel it is no longer a developing canoe slalom nation and now in the top division.

Link to all results

  Gold Silver Bronze Total
USA 3 1 1 5
Brazil 1 3 1 5
Canada 1 1 2 4
Argentina     1 1
         

It was an important race too for the newer canoe slalom nations that we do not regularly see at Olympics, World Championships or World Cup races. The Pan Am event also served as an Olympic Qualifier for the nations participating.

  Heat Semi Final
C1M Casey Eichfeld Casey Eichfeld 94.82 (2) Casey Eichfeld 92.80 (2)
C1W Ana Satila Ana Satila 124.32 (6) Ana Satila 113.01 (2)
K1M Pedro Da Silva Ben Hayward 86.83 (0) Michal Smolen 87.14 (0)
K1W Ana Satila Ashley Nee 98.59 (2) Jazmyne Denhollander 97.92 (0)
C2M Correa/Anderson McEwan/Eichfeld 120.05 (10) McEwan/Eichfeld 120.05 (2)
Number in brackets show penalties in seconds  

The young Brazilian team continued their ascent up through the ranks with wins in 4 of the 5 heats, thanks to Pedro (Pepe) Da Silva, Ana Satila and Charles Correa/ Anderson Oliviera.

canoe kayak slalom pan am games 2015 toronto canada results review sportscene olympic qualifier

C1M

1st Casey Eichfeld USA 92.80
2nd Cameron Smedley CAN +1.29
3rd Felipe Da Silva BRA +5.61
       

Casey Eichfeld (USA) looked strong all the way through posting the fastest time in the heat, semi-final and final. That said the final was tight and came down to penalties. Eichfeld was clean while Cameron Smedley (CAN) was 0.71 seconds quicker but picked up a 2 second penalty. He still looked delighted to take Canada’s first medal of the day with silver behind Olympian Eichfeld, 25. “Its tough, I knew I had to give it everything. In this run, I did everything I could and unfortunately picked up that penalty”, described Smedley. Felipe Da Silva (BRA) took bronze ahead of 4th placed Sebastian Rossi (ARG).

canoe kayak slalom pan am games 2015 toronto canada results review sportscene olympic qualifier

C1W

1st Ana Satila BRA 113.01
2nd Colleen Hickey USA +18.42
3rd Haley Daniels CAN +30.64
       

Ana Satila (BRA) took a clean sweep across the heat, semi and final and given her record as the U23 World Champion, ICF ranked World no. 11 and currently 5th in the 2015 World Cup series it would have been a big surprise not to see her with a win. It was her first trip to Canada and like many other paddlers they really took a strong liking to the great natural race venue.

She looked just like the teenager she is as she excitedly received her gold medal along the banks of the picturesque Gull river. The sun reappeared just in time for prize giving.

Colleen Hickey for USA took silver and Hayley Daniels (CAN) who is such a big ambassador for equality in women’s canoeing for the 2020 Olympics took a bronze for Canada amongst huge applause in Minden.

canoe kayak slalom 2015 toronto pan am games review results sportscene canada minden olympic qualifier

K1M

1st Michael Smolen USA 87.14
2nd Pedro Da Silva BRA +1.88
3rd Ben Hayward CAN +5.62
       

Pedro (Pepe) Da Silva (BRA) believed he had won the K1M final and there was a very lengthy delay waiting for official results with 21 year-old Michal Smolen (USA) posted as the winner with a clean run in 87.14 seconds. It was a roller coaster of emotions for Da Silva, 22, although he demonstrated how well he can paddle with a win in the heat and silver in the final, including a natural river on which he had never previously paddled.

Smolen commented at the finish, “Honestly it feels great. To get to this level is quite special. The big thing for me is having all this support from the US and the crowd today at the Pan Am Games this feeling inside you that really makes you want to go faster. To me that is what makes this sport so exciting. It’s a huge part of my journey and good steps towards being at the Olympics. I am glad to be part of the USA [Pan Am medal] total”.

Ben Hayward (CAN) showed his strength with a win in the semi-final. Like many athletes he now heads to the remaining two World Cup races in Europe before the Lee Valley Worlds.

canoe kayak slalom pan am games 2015 toronto canada results review sportscene olympic qualifier

K1W

1st Jazmyne Denhollander CAN 97.92
2nd Ana Satila BRA +0.02
3rd Ashley Nee USA +0.03
       

Jazmyne Denhollander (CAN) took a sensational win, the first for Canada on home soil. It was the 21-year olds first qualification to the team as first boat. The shy Canadian had a beautifully composed clean final run to win by 0.02 seconds over heat winner Ana Satila and 0.03 seconds over semi-winner Ashley Nee (USA). It is difficult to visualise what this 200th of a second represents; maybe the width of a hockey puck! In the final, Nee was quickest in the 1st split, Denhollander made up time in the second and Satila was fastest in the final section.

Denhollander did share some reflections on racing in front of her home crowd, “It absolutely helped me to have everyone cheering – to have that huge crowd supporting you. It felt great on the water and gives you that added power of okay, I need to step up and go my hardest.”

canoe kayak slalom pan am games 2015 toronto canada results review sportscene olympic qualifier

C2

1st Devin McEwan/ Casey Eichfeld USA 106.95
2nd Charles Correa/ Anderson Oliveira BRA +2.78
3rd Lucas Rossi/ Sebastian Rossi ARG +17.86
       

This was great for those of us involved in World and World Cup to see these pretty well matched C2 crews battling it out together.

Charles Correa & Anderson Oliveira (BRA) had also shown their strength with a win in the opening heat and actually also had the fastest raw run time in the final of 103.73 plus 3 touches. A 50-second penalty prevented the Canadian crew of Ben Hayward & Cameron Smedley from making the final. It created the opening on which Argentina gained a bronze medal for Lucas & Sebastian Rossi.

Casey Eichfeld (USA) who had early won the C1M event and partnered with Devin McEwan were able to put in a quick run of 104.95 with just one touch to secure the third US gold of the day.

Race analysis

  Name Nation Time Percentage
K1M Michael Smolen USA 87.14 100%
C1M Casey Eichfeld USA 92.80 106%
C1W Ana Satila BRA 113.01 130%
K1W Jazmyne Denhollander CAN 97.92 112%
C2M McEwan/Eichfeld USA 106.95 123%
         

Congratulations to all the organisers including Eric Lokken, Cecilia Farias, Molly Killingbeck, James Cartwright & Jim Taylor and the army of officials, commentators, security and volunteers. Martin Malone, Workforce Manager TO2015 summarized; “We could not have managed this canoe slalom event on the beautiful Gull river without the 160 volunteers. The training they had to go through and time spent at this venue is really appreciated and ensured the success of this exciting Pan Am debut sport”. As the heavens opened at 4.19pm on Sunday, a beautifully choreographed evacuation of the field of play looked like a Cirque du Soleil stage change.

The ICF will post the results of the Olympic Qualifier race that ran in parallel. We also hear that a test event in Rio is on the cards for November. These new Pan Am medallists and all the federations will be excited to race at the next Pan Am Games in 2019 in Lima, Peru.

Returning to the original question; if memory serves me correctly the World Cup series replaced the Europa Cup. Does it not make sense then, that at least one race has to be outside Europe? Double Pan Am champion Casey Eichfeld added to the sentiment; "It is my hope that the International Canoe Federation can see the merit that a growing number of North American courses hold, and their viability for World Class competitions. My thoughts go particularly towards having half of the World Cups in North America as they are often spilt into two parts anyway. It would be a great way to improve diversity in course use and to alleviate some of staleness of the continually used courses. This would also be a great opportunity to revive the sport in the Americas giving us the chance to expose our great sport to more of the general public. Revival of Canoe/Kayak Slalom in the Americas can only be beneficial to the furthered growth of the sport with possible coverage on major sporting networks."

Remaining 2015 season:

  • World Cup race 4 – Seu d’Urgell, Spain – August 7-9
  • World Cup final – Pau, France - August 14-16
  • World Championships – Lee Valley, London – September 16-20

Photo credits: Sean Scally and John Gregory